As part of a healthy balanced diet, an adult’s reference intake of total sugars is 90g, according to NHS Choices.

The term ‘reference intakes’ (or RIs) has replaced ‘guideline daily amounts’ (GDAs), which used to appear on food labels, however the basic principle behind these two terms is the same.

DW Fitness Clubs analysed several pasta sauce products and found that when it came to the worst offender for sugar content, Tesco Bolognese Pasta Sauce came out as the highest – with 7.3g sugar per 100g.

And it seemed cheaper products actually came out best when it came to sugar content – with Tesco Everyday Value Pasta Sauce only having 2.3g sugar per 100g.

Half a Goodfellas’ Pepperoni pizza contained less sugar than nine of the 13 pasta sauces

And, interestingly, the research seemed to suggest that, when it comes to sugar, pizza may be healthier than pasta.

Half a Goodfellas’ Pepperoni pizza contained less sugar than many pasta sauces.

So, if your child is a fan of pasta sauce but you want to give them a healthier alternative, it may be best to make any sauces from scratch.

A spokesperson for Dolmio said: “There is actually only 2.1g of added sugar in a 125g portion of Dolmio Bolognese – that’s half a teaspoon.

“Each portion also contains one of your recommended 5-a-day and is made with 100 per cent natural ingredients.

“All our products carry traffic light labelling and the correct reference intake information is on the front of pack.”

A Spokesperson for Tesco told The Sun Online: “We are continuously working with our suppliers to review our ranges and we’re pleased that soon, the sugar content of this pasta sauce will be reduced to 5.6 per cent.

“We’re committed to helping our customers live healthier lives with initiatives such as free fruit for kids in our stores, reducing the sugar content of our soft drinks by at least five per cent every year and removing sweets from our checkout areas.”